1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for managing, in an examination carried out using a medical image diagnostic apparatus, an object which has, as its contents, information set in the apparatus in imaging (imaging information), a positioning image used in the imaging, information on an image (key image) serving as a basis in a past diagnosis, information on the past examinations referred to in the imaging, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the special field of medical practice is segmentized. For example, an image diagnosis is separated into various tasks, such as the acquisition of a diagnostic image of a patient, the interpretation of the acquired diagnostic image and the generation of a report, and the explanation of a diagnostic result based on the result of the report and a treatment policy. Each task is taken charge of by each specialist (a doctor or engineer in charge), and all these tasks achieve the medical practice such as a diagnosis toward the patient. Each specialist performs each task properly referring to, for example, information on the past diagnosis on the basis of information generated by other specialists in the previous tasks. These tasks are carried out in, for example, an X-ray CT apparatus for acquiring the diagnostic image, a medical image diagnostic apparatus such as an MRI apparatus, a medical image saving device for storing the diagnostic images, a medical image observation device for the interpretation of the diagnostic image, a medical report generation support system, etc.
Recently, there has been proposed a system for allowing the efficient use of past examination information in the above-mentioned image diagnosis with the segmentized tasks, as described in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. No. 2006-319356. In this system, an object is generated for each examination or for each series and shared, and the object can be referred to in any device with any timing. This makes it possible for a user to know, for example, imaging conditions used in a past examination or a key image in a past diagnosis, and reproduce the past examination with high accuracy, or accurately recognize the key image used in the past diagnosis or its position.
The contents of this object can be freely arranged as needed. Particularly in clinical scenes, it is desired that information for identifying the past key image (e.g., the latest key image) or the key image itself be included in the object as much as possible so that there will be no cases where a part which seems to be most significant can not be photographed in the imaging to be carried out in the future.
However, for example, the following problems may occur if the information for identifying the key image or the key image itself is included in the object.
That is, there is no agreement on the point of deciding the key image to be included in the object, and there are variations in the environment (e.g., a hospital) into which the system is introduced. For example, in an actual medical scene, the key image may be subjected to a correction, addition or modification by the same doctor or a plurality of doctors for one examination. In such a case, there may be inconsistency such as the disagreement between a key image serving as the basis of a diagnosis and a key image specified by the object, depending on the way of determining the timing for deciding the key image (or information for specifying the key image) to be included in the object.